First, it is the appropriate remedy called upon to redress crimes that have likely been committed by high elected officials.
Secondly, it may be the last best defense for our nation to avoid martial law her, or the all-out unthinkable catastrophe that would be a strike (nuclear or otherwise) against Iran in the coming days by an increasingly unstable and cornered Administration.
Questioning the “political expediency” of impeachment always seemed disturbing because it permits our elected officials discretion to go after potentially serious crimes—or not—as the electoral calendar, but not the public interest, dictated. Law applied only when convenient, ceases to be Law. If We, the People, through our representatives, allow the most serious crimes committed in the history of our nation to go unexamined, much less unpunished, we will have no legacy to pass on to our children. Effectively we will have allowed America to die.
Impeachment may well be the only means left for an immediate shift in momentum. The movement of personnel and materials into a new theater of war in the Mideast gives the Administration clear inertia for carrying out its plans. There is little time to alter any course through normal voting channels, even if it is to cut off funding. That takes time and the Administration has already declared itself ready and able to proceed with or without funding cuts.
It is no longer a question of whether this Administration acts from serious intelligence-gathering or from listening to experts, or even listening to the people it legally represents. It clearly marches to the beat of its own drummer, to a cadence we are not privy to hear. We cannot count on either their good faith or their good sense. In this constitutional crisis of power, all available means are called for to restore Constitutional Balance of Power, to keep this Administration busy explaining, and move them into a more defensive posture, running to their lawyers, and ducking cameras and subpoenas.
This may be the last chance the American people have to use our available legal powers to stave off an unprecedented catastrophe. Time is running out. This unresponsive and largely irresponsible Administration seems determined and desperate to act out the Plan they have never bothered to disclose to us, mere citizens.
If there were ever a time for national resolve, this is it. Starting the impeachment process now—independent of the chances of its successful passage—will give courage to the beleaguered and bewildered 70% who want this war to stop. It may prevent World War III. It gives breathing room to develop an appropriate exit strategy from Iraq. It will renew US stature in the eyes of the world. It means America at last will be standing up together and fighting to redeem its heritage as a democratic republic of the People, and secure its future from threats, be they foreign or domestic.
We must get our Congress & People to act NOW as if our lives depended on it--for they do.
Spread the word—time is running out.
Alan Kobrin
Miami
